A Lane County teen, who lost his friend to suicide, has started a non-profit to focus on the issue. We first met this young man earlier this year as part of our series on Suicide Loss.
Carson Lydon named his organization A World Free of Suicide. The mission is to advocate for those struggling with mental health issues. The 16-year old believes through outreach and discussion, everyone can be a part of the solution to end suicide.
The group is growing membership on social media. Lydon, hopes to add an educational component with talks on suicide prevention in schools.
“I feel like you should be able to start learning about it, when you’re, you know I’d say 7th or 8th grade. But I mean there’s cases --there’s been 12 year olds or 11 year olds that have decided to end their life. So, you know I don’t have the perfect answer for that but I think the younger, the better.”
A World Free Of Suicide will be featured at the Eugene Emeralds August 11th game. Everyone will receive a wristband with the words “You are not alone,” and the suicide prevention lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 (TALK)
Lydon says he’ll contribute half of the proceeds from his merchandise and ticket sales (at Sunday’s game) to CAHOOTS, Whitebird’s crisis intervention service. The other half will benefit Youth Era.
For information about Eugene Emerald’s promo night for A World Free of Suicide:
http://https://groupmatics.events/event/AWorldFree
Facebook page: @aworldfreeofsuicide
Instagram:@Aworldfreeofsuicide
Twitter: @Aworldfreeofsui1